Regional Italian

January 2000

Regional Italian

By: Kimberly J. DeckerContributing Editor

To speak only of "Italian food" gives Italy's culinary diversity short shrift. A tour of Italy's microcuisines will give a better understanding and appreciation of this nation's rich and varied cuisine.

The northwest

  Some of the highest-quality fruits, vegetables and herbs in Italy are found in Liguria. Lying on a narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean coast, it simply lacks the room for much grain production. But its ingenious cooks turn their produce into elaborate dishes, and Ligurians have an unsurpassed talent with herbs - basil pesto sauce with pecorino cheese, garlic, olive oil and pine nuts, for example. Liguria's coast also ensures a bounty of seafood, which cooks adorn with fresh local herbs and vegetables.

  To Liguria's north, at the foot of the Alps, lies the Piedmont region. Here you'll find really rich food, including the fabled white truffle of Alba, thin slices of which crown fonduta, a steaming fondue of rich cream, melted fontina cheese, butter, eggs and milk. The Piedmontese don't follow the typical "healthful" Mediterranean diet. Bollito - a hearty dish of beef, veal, pork, game fowl, cabbage, potatoes, onions, pickles, lentils, and three or four different sauces - doesn't quite fit into the healthy-eating pyramid either. But this is a region well-suited to winter's restorative foods. If you want "light," go further south.

  A bit further north in the Val d'Aosta, residents eat the same sausages, game and hearty buckwheat breads with fresh butter that they've eaten for centuries. Fontina-coated variations on French gratinèes and buttery polentas decorated with truffles comprise the area's rich primi, or first courses. Meats such as cotoletta valdostana - classic breadcrumb-coated veal chops stuffed with prosciutto, fontina and truffles and browned in butter - often appear in secondi, or second courses.

  Further inland is Lombardia, home to modern Milan, fertile agricultural areas, and quaint Alpine villages. Risotto alla milanese is the most well-known of countless Lombardian rice dishes, its saffron-induced tint earning it the nickname "Milanese gold." Veal reigns as king of meats in this region, where Wienerschnitzel originally appeared as cotoletta alla milanese, and where spoon-tender osso buco is a regular delicacy. Many Italian cheeses come from Lombardia, including blue-veined Gorgonzola and creamy mascarpone.

The northeast

  The Veneto has long been the origin and terminus of trading excursions, bringing spices and exotic herbs to Venice, Padua and Verona. Rice, which characterizes Venetian food, grows in the muggy, marshy areas, and the prevalence of seafood risottos, rustic country rice dishes with local game, and risi e bisi (rice and peas) testifies to its popularity. But the Veneto is not all rice paddy; slightly bitter, purple-red radicchio grows here, along with corn for the finest grades of polenta.

  To the east, in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Slavic-influenced Venezia-Giulians incorporate nutmeg, cumin and paprika into pork goulashes and sauerkrauts rich with horseradish and sour cream. The Friulian region has a simpler cuisine, with peasant origins. Here you'll find beans, polenta and plenty of dairy foods, as well as a passion for cured pork. Cooks do wonders with local seafood, particularly in coastal Trieste, known for tender branzino - a local fish similar to sea bass. Frittate (simple, open-faced omelets) and frico (layered slices of cheese and apples fried until crisp), pay homage to the simple, home-cooked fare.

  Northwest of the Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige prides itself on hearty and admittedly fattening fare. But the region's cooks temper this abundance with Venetian sophistication and a handful of Slavic influence. The comforting and fortifying food is by no means simple - meats, particularly game, and dairy take top billing. Speck, a smoked ham, portrays a complex approach to food preparation - ham is pickled in a seasoned brine, lightly smattered with salt and pepper, smoked, and then hung to age for no less than eight months.

The center

  In central Italy, diners get the best of all worlds - the rich and hearty foods of the north combined with the more produce-based Mediterranean cooking of the south. Home to Italy's national, cultural, religious and educational capitals, "Il Centro" has a formidable culinary presence too.

Tuscan food succeeds because of its balance and simplicity. No fancy sauce reductions or fickle soufflès here; simple spit-roasting and grilling are preferred. The cooking relies on quality and freshness rather than richness - true Tuscan food doesn't use many cream or butter sauces or heavy seasonings. Olive oil provides subtle adornment when drizzled on crusty bread or freshly roasted game, or in a simple ribollita ("re-boiled" soup). You won't find much pasta or risotto in Tuscan cuisine either. Instead, game, seafood, free-range poultry, steaks (such as the simply seasoned and grilled bistecca alla fiorentina), and beans make up the typical meal. Other Italians traditionally dismissed Tuscans as "bean eaters," but they wear the name proudly, for their hearty bean soups and simple bean salads are created with style and good taste.

  To Tuscany's southwest lies landlocked Umbria. Steeped in peasant tradition tempered by the culinary influence of foreign travelers, its cooking embodies contradiction. Foreign influence brings spit-roasted lamb, dishes of pigeon and pheasant, and elegant treatments of the Norcian black truffle. More rustic dishes include soups and stews made from spelt, onions, lake fish, and a coarse spaghetti-like noodle called ciriole ternane served with garlic and robustly flavored olive oil. A common thread between the low and high styles of Umbrian cooking is the dominance of vegetables and starches over meats. Still, Umbrians love their pork, and local sausages have earned butchers fame throughout Italy.

  Cooking in the Marches - along the Adriatic coast to Umbria's east - remains conservative, with many dishes unchanged for centuries. They're still strongly flavored and time-consuming to prepare, as in a typical lasagna-style dish - layers of hand-made pasta are alternated with chicken and chicken livers, prosciutto, lamb, mushrooms, truffles, cheese, and cream, then topped with bèchamel sauce and baked. Cooks here like to stuff their favorite foods, from chicken breasts and ravioli to pork chops. Olives are stuffed with ground meats, sautèed in butter and oil, topped with a Marsala sauce, truffles, cheese, and eggs, coated in flour, more eggs, and breadcrumbs, and then deep-fried to a golden crisp. Brodetto, a seafood stew, first appeared here, some versions with saffron, others with vinegar, and all with plenty of onions and olive oil.

  In Lazio, home to the capital of Rome, you'll find dishes such as spring peas served with ham or carciofi alla giudeca - a deep-fried artichoke dish that originated in Rome's Jewish neighborhoods. Romans don't shy away from "variety" meats; pig's cheeks and oxtails are turned into delicacies such as classic "butcher's style" oxtail ragout, called coda alla vaccinara. Thinly sliced veal scaloppine, chicken with peppers, and spring lamb signal special Roman occasions, while semolina-based gnocchi alla romana is a typical Thursday dish, and spaghetti alla carbonara is common on Sunday.

Emilia-Romagna is home to Bologna, an international culinary center; Modena, famous for its sweet fruity balsamic vinegars; and Parma, which has given us Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and prosciutto ham. Its citizens satisfy their love for pork in countless dishes, from roasts and stews to Parma hams, sausages and salamis, including Bolognese mortadella. Salsa alla bolognese is packed with veal, beef, pork, and lamb and slowly cooked with aromatic vegetables, red wine, and a hint of tomato and cream. And what better accompaniment for this hearty meat sauce than freshly made pasta? Lasagne, tagliatelle and cappellini, all made with fresh eggs, have earned the region's pasta makers international repute.

The south

  Southern Italy's climate, geography and proximity to the Mediterranean have yielded the fruits, vegetables, seafood and reliance on olive oil that have earned the "Mediterranean diet" its healthful reputation.

Campania is home to Naples, the birthplace of pizza and a contender for pasta-eating capital of the world. Its cooks still make pizza the way they always have, to the great appreciation of all. Its fishermen also influence the area's cuisine, bringing home seafood for fritti misti, the mixed seafood platters for which every Campanian cook has a recipe.

  In Abruzzi and Molise - both similar in geography, climate, and cuisine - craggy mountains leave only a small portion of land for farming or sheep herding. But necessity has borne plenty of delicious invention, with expert treatments of fettuccine and fiery chili-pepper sauces. The sheep come to the table as roasts and stews, and their milk becomes scamorza and caciocavallo cheeses. Cooks here work wonders with leftovers, and can turn a few lentils, noodles, vegetables and last night's ham bone into a fabulous soup.

  In Calabria, Italy's "toe," it often seems as if culinary tradition is the inhabitants' most valuable possession. Fortunately, it's a proud one. Most foods are decidedly humble, but comforting, from bread and cabbage soups to simple pasta dishes of fettuccine cooked in milk and tossed with pecorino cheese. Game, lamb and seafood regularly pair with olives, nuts and eggplant, the region's most popular vegetable.

  In mountainous Basilicata, hunters bring home wild hare and birds, and a small sheep- and hog-raising industry provides lamb and pork, the latter of which finds its way into hearty sausages. When meat becomes too scarce, thrifty cooks turn to eggplants, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and zucchini. Of course, pasta rounds out the meal - throw in some freshly made ricotta and you'll barely miss the meat. The cuisine has an eastern flair - saffron, almonds and cinnamon reflect a culinary tradition inherited from the Greeks and Byzantines.

  In Puglia, cooks can't get enough of the brightly colored and plentiful peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, beans, artichokes and greens. Dressing them with local, robustly flavored olive oil, cooks serve vegetables in soups and with fresh pasta - orecchiette and broccoli is a favorite. The extensive coast provides plenty of seafood, and mollusks and crustaceans are fried, steamed or layered with vegetables or baked in pies. Sheep provide not only lamb and mutton, but milk for cheeses such as pecorino.

The islands

  Strategically located, Sicily has housed Norman, Scandinavian, Arabic, Greek and Spanish civilizations. Arabs introduced couscous, lemons, oranges and pistachios. Stoccafisso, salt cod, is a culinary gift of the Norwegians, and the Spanish influenced the classic Sicilian caponata, a ratatouille-like dish of eggplant, olives, capers, anchovies, tomatoes, garlic and onions served with capon, its traditional accompaniment. Sicilians have worked such culinary souvenirs into their own hearty cuisine of handmade pasta, bread served with everything from olives and onions to beans and cheese, pasta and vegetable soups, and - a favorite - pasta with sardines.

  Inhabitants of remote Sardinia, a land of wild hogs, turkeys and goats, have a diet heavy in meat. Roast suckling pig, cooked over an open pit, is flavored with myrtle leaves, and served warm or cold with radishes and celery. Wild fowl are also pressed between layers of these fragrant leaves. Preparation of typical dishes, including seafood casseroles and turtle soups, involves an almost ceremonial dedication to ritual that stems from the culture's mystical past. These ancient recipes coexist with modern ingredients and a more urban mindset to make the island's cooking a stimulating mix of past and present.

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